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TM Lewin, the ubiquitous City of London shirt maker backed by private equity investor Coller Capital, has fallen under the gaze of Japanese trading group Itochu Corporation, according to people familiar with the matter.

Itochu has placed a first-round bid for TM Lewin, according to people familiar with the situation, pitting it against private equity firms and trade buyers in a sale process that could fetch up to £100 million, one of the people said.

Spokespeople for Itochu, Coller and KPMG declined to comment. TM Lewin did not comment in time for publication.

Itochu was founded more than 150 years ago and trades in everything from textiles and machinery to chemicals and metals. The Tokyo-listed company, which has a market capitalisation of just over ¥2 trillion ($20.2 billion), is also a supplier of fabric to TM Lewin.

One of the people said: “It’s a Japanese trading house and they tend to follow a vertical integration strategy where they manufacture, wholesale and retail products. Itochu makes fabric which they sell to TM Lewin, so it’s not a great stretch for them to become shirt retailers.”

Coller's stake in TM Lewin is part of a portfolio of assets bought by the secondaries investor in July 2010 from Lloyds Banking Group, which inherited the portfolio from its takeover of HBOS. The portfolio is managed by Caird Capital.

An acquisition by Itochu would mark the latest in a long line of recent deals in Europe by Japanese buyers looking to expand outside of their domestic market, which has suffered from nearly two decades of sluggish growth.

Itochu is no stranger to Europe. The company has done 26 deals on the continent since 2001, according to data provider Dealogic. These include the £637 million acquisition of car-servicing company Kwik Fit from French buyout firm PAI Partners in 2011. In 2005, the company bought a 40% stake in UK fashion house Paul Smith and acts as the company's master licensee in Japan.